


Family Matters

by hinazuki kaoru (nikilah)



Category: Persona 5
Genre: CW Emetophobia (Not Described in Detail), Crying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Smoking, Morgana is nice, Post 11/20, Post-Traumatic Reactions, akira receives some kindness instead of giving it for once, bc sojiro, mostly comfort, there are a couple of things i wanna write on this theme, unsupportive parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:22:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24455857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikilah/pseuds/hinazuki%20kaoru
Summary: Sojiro finds Akira bent over and sick on the floor of Leblanc's attic. Akira reluctantly opens up to someone for the first time about the last seven months' events.Post 11/20 Akira & Sojiro family bonding time, with a little bit of Morgana too.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 187





	Family Matters

It was the third time happening when Sojiro found him, bent double over the attic floor with his chest heaving.

“What’s going on, h-hey!?”

Akira had made for the bathroom, but never reached it; he could tell that the floor around him was a mess. “Wai-”, he tried to say, only to feel sick again. He felt Sojiro’s hands on his back as his body convulsed, holding him steady. Then it was over.

With Sojiro’s help, he propped himself against the large cardboard box that contained his stuff. Sojiro handed him a tissue, so that he could wipe his face; Morgana was sitting down on the sofa arm, watching him intently. His expression was about as worried as a cat could look. No one made a move to speak or clean up the mess.

For a while, the silence was only punctuated by his erratic breathing, and the flick of Sojiro’s lighter. Only when his breath had evened out did he glance over at the old man, who sighed.

“It’s just as well I was walking past, the cat found me and wouldn’t stop meowing.” He scratched Morgana lightly behind the ear, who didn’t resist. “Now tell me, what’s bothering you?”

Akira closed his eyes. He didn’t want to talk. He was tired, and frustrated - at Morgana, for looking for help, at Sojiro for being concerned, at himself.

Morgana persisted. “You need to tell someone, Akira. Someone who can help you deal with it. It’s Sojiro, you can trust him.”

Akira knew Morgana was making perfect sense. It’s not like he could hide everything - while the bandages on his face and around his wrists had been taken off, the marks and dark smudges that remained were a constant reminder of what had happened almost two weeks ago. Most of the truth serum had left his system, based on the last time Takemi had examined him, but he’d woken up on several nights shaking, and his stomach and veins on fire, the way they had whenever he was coming off the latest dose in the interrogation room. He’d thrown up all over the room there, too.

“Bad dream,” was all he could say.

“Bad dream? That’s all?”

“…Yeah.”

Sojiro grimaced. “You can talk to me, you know. No one else is here.”

_Except Morgana. Futaba is probably listening to this conversation from the house right now. Futaba._ Something crossed Akira’s mind.

“Remember when you found Futaba’s calling card?” he asked abruptly. Sojiro raised an eyebrow. “Of course," he said, after exhaling through another puff of smoke. "I’ll never forget that day. The two of you nearly gave me a heart attack, geez…”

“I was…afraid, then. Of how you’d react. What you’d say.”

The old man frowned. Dodging the obvious answer, but still, this was something. “I knew you were upset too. You wouldn’t stop saying sorry, even the next morning…I also know I said it to you then, but I’ll say it again - I’ve got your back. As long as you’re here, I’ll keep you safe. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“I was afraid of that, but that wasn’t the only reason why.” Akira wasn’t sure why he was going down this particular line of talk, and even Morgana tilted his head in askance. But he was losing the ability to hold in his feelings, the ones he’d held within him since he’d set foot in Leblanc seven months ago. And now he knew that he could trust Sojiro.

“My parents aren’t exactly the most understanding or supportive ones,” he began. When they visited me at the police station after what happened with Shido…they never asked how I was feeling.”

He could feel Sojiro and Morgana watching him intently now. No turning back. He took a deep breath and continued.

“They believed me, but it was clear that they were more worried about the court proceedings. How they’d have to explain my probation to friends and family and how it’d affect my studies. All I could hear was how much I’d disappointed them.” He found himself blinking hard, and he turned his gaze downward.

“Akira…” Morgana’s voice was soft, and he said his name the way he did whenever Haru or Ann expressed something painful. It was the first time Morgana had directed that tone towards him.

“…And so you were afraid of disappointing me too, as well as your friends.” Akira had to give it to Sojiro, the man was ever so sharp.

He nodded. “The plan to deceive Akechi…once it was made, I knew I couldn’t turn back. It was our only sure shot at getting out of the mess we were in, and even then, the risks were so high…I felt like I had to. For everyone. It was that, or everyone’s lives would be over, not just mine. But I was...sc- I was terrified.” He choked as the last few words came out, and put his hand over his face.

Morgana and Sojiro had the good sense to give him a moment, which he was thankful for. It still hurt, but the hurt was changing. It felt like the tight ball of pain and self-defence that he’d kept inside him was slowly, finally uncurling.

Sojiro was sitting down on the couch now, leaning over to look at Akira. The kid who had turned up at his doorstep last April, and had been through way too much in such a short space of time. It was hard to believe at times, with his level-headed demeanour and his undeniable intelligence and wit…but he was still just a frickin’ kid. Right now he looked a lot more like the teenager he was, unsure and vulnerable.

“My friends…they don’t know.”

Sojiro shrugged. “I’m not surprised. If all of this was affecting you that much even back then, you did a damn good job of hiding it. Too good, in fact. I had no idea either. And I’m supposed to be your guardian.”

Morgana flicked an ear, his face solemn. “All this time…you never said anything about it. You’ve been listening to me, and everyone else about their worries and helping them. We had no idea that you were hurting, too.”

Akira didn’t know what to say to any of that.

“Hey, this isn’t going to be an everyday thing, but…come here.” Akira lifted his hand, puzzled over Sojiro’s words, and saw him beckoning him over to the couch. Reluctantly, he pushed himself up, wincing slightly as the scabs on his wrists protested. He made it over and sat down next to Sojiro, who looked him the eye. “I’m sorry…I mean it. When you first showed up here, I remember saying to you that your parents booted you here for being a waste of their time. I take that back now.” Akira hadn’t expected the sudden apology; he did recall Sojiro saying those words on that day, and it had stung then, but he’d moved past it long ago. Still, Akira appreciated it. He nodded.

Sojiro sighed and scratched the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable. Then he put his arm gently around Akira’s shoulder, pulling him into a loose hug.

The move surprised him, and he was too stunned to say anything. He’d probably tensed up hard, too, because Sojiro immediately asked, “Sorry, is this too much…?”

“No, it’s fine…actually.” Akira was feeling too many different emotions at once, and as Morgana hopped down to rub his head against his leg affectionately, the tightness in his chest snapped. Akira found himself leaning into Sojiro’s shoulder, and a small sob escaped him. Then another. Tears trickled down from his eyes. He hated crying. But Sojiro squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. “It’s alright.” They stayed that way for a moment, letting Akira cry it out.

When it was over, Sojiro let Akira pull away so he could rub his face freely. His eyes were red, and he looked exhausted, but most of the tension in him seemed to have dissipated.

“What should I tell them?” Akira found himself asking. Of all the challenges he’d faced, opening up to his friends was probably the hardest yet.

Sojiro stood up from the couch. “You can do what I did with you. Start with one, whoever you can trust, and do it somewhere that feels safe. Honestly, I think any one of your friends would do. They’re good kids.” The old man brushed off his apron. “I’ll help you clean up the mess before I go.”

“It’s fine, I’ll take care of it. You should head home before Futaba worries about you.” Sojiro hesitated, then let it go. “You gonna be alright?”

Akira nodded. The crying had left him drained, and all he wanted right now was to clean up and go back to bed, but he’d try to do as Sojiro suggested in the morning. 

* * *

“Hey Morgana?” he asked the cat as he lay under his covers, sometime after Sojiro had left Leblanc.

“What’s up?”

“Do you think Futaba heard everything?”

Morgana shook his head firmly. “Don’t worry. After the first time you woke up from your nightmares, I told her not to listen in to this room for the time being, not even for emergencies. I had a feeling you needed the privacy.”

“Thanks.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos appreciated ^^


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